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Focus 2/2024: Livestock

Regarding the transformation of our agricultural and food systems, hardly any sector has been as controversially discussed as livestock farming. In the Global North, quite a few people would like to see animal products entirely deleted from the human diet – because this could reduce the emission of harmful greenhouse gases; because valuable natural resources such as land and water could be used more efficiently; because deforestation to create pastureland could be stemmed, which would protect biodiversity; and because, in many cases, they cannot reconcile animal husbandry with their animal welfare aspirations. Not to mention the rapid growth of malnutrition and nutrition-related illnesses through excessive consumption of animal-sourced food and health risks such as the transmittance of zoonotic diseases.

However, a world without animal agriculture is simply not realistic. The issue here is not just that of producing food such as milk, eggs and meat, which represent an important source of proteins and micronutrients for many people, or of using draught animals for land cultivation. For women in particular, keeping small livestock is often the only option to earn their own income, and is hence key to economic and social empowerment. Animals can serve as forms of saving, insurance and social security. And they are an integral element of the urgently needed agro-ecological transformation, which is also based on the principles of the circular economy and (nutrient) recycling.

By declaring 2024 the International Year of Camelids, the United Nations has been highlighting the importance of these animals – and hence also the importance of the pastoralist way of living – for food security and ecosystem functions. Knowing fully well that sustainable solutions for tomorrow’s livestock systems always need a multi-faceted and context-specific lens, our authors ultimately back livestock farming too.

Im Mittelpunkt des Heftes stehen Fachartikel und Praxisbeiträge zu den Themen "Lebensmittelqualität", "Sensorik", "Lebensmitteltechnologie", "Ingredienzien" sowie "Kommunikation/Marketing". Ein aktueller Blick in die Entwicklung der Lebensmittelmärkte rundet das Angebot ab. Damit werfen wir einen ganzheitlichen Blick auf die „Welt der Lebensmittel“ – von der Entwicklung, über die Produktion bis zur Vermarktung.

Focus 1/2024:  Indigenous people – why rights and resources matter

Currently, there are around 477 million indigenous people living in roughly 70 countries across the world. They speak more than 4,000 of the world’s 7,000 languages, and they protect roughly 80 per cent of the world’s remaining biodiversity. But while making up slightly more than six per cent of the global population, indigenous people account for about 15 per cent of the extreme poor, and their life expectancy is up to 20 years lower than that of other population groups.

There are many reasons for this. The great majority of indigenous communities live in remote and fragile environments, with very limited access to basic services, including healthcare, water and sanitation, energy and education. Moreover, territories and natural resources which provide livelihoods for a large number of these people are increasingly under threat – not only from the impact of climate change, but also because of the growing demand for foodstuffs and forest products, fuels and valuable minerals. Violations of rights are a regular occurrence.

Our authors – many of whom belong to Indigenous Peoples – demonstrate which international bodies of law indigenous people can refer to and describe the strengths and weaknesses of tools and instruments which have been developed to enhance their access to justice and development. They show the flipside of the green energy transition and give examples of successful advocacy work. And they report how the valorisation of indigenous knowledge can be achieved – including rewarding people for the valuable ecosystem services they provide.

Focus 4/2023: Stemming food loss and waste

According to the latest progress report for the Sustainable Development Goals, about 8 per cent of all food produced in the world is lost on the farm, 14 per cent is lost between the farm gate and the retail sec­tor, and 17 per cent is wasted at the retail, food service provider and household levels.

What is disturbing here is that these figures haven’t changed significantly in the past decade. Roughly 40 per cent of food still doesn’t get where it is meant to go, namely to the stomachs of the consumers. But hasn’t any progress at all been made in terms of food loss and waste? Or don’t we simply have any reliable methods to adequately assess the phenome­non? The answer is that both applies.

A recent study by the UK’s University of Greenwich arrives at the con­clusion that food loss and waste measurements are usually aggregated from relatively small samples to national levels. This can result in vol­umes being considerably under- or overrated. Moreover, while we have a good knowledge of the problem in developed countries, above all of waste, little is known about that phenomenon in low- and middle-income countries. The question arising here is how to tackle a problem which can’t be properly measured.

While keeping these shortcomings in mind, we have asked our authors to present innovative, practical and, above all, scalable solutions from the fields they work in which can contribute to less food being wasted – for global food and nutrition security, for the economy, for the environment and for our climate.

Im Mittelpunkt des Heftes stehen Fachartikel und Praxisbeiträge zu den Themen "Lebensmittelqualität", "Sensorik", "Lebensmitteltechnologie", "Ingredienzien" sowie "Kommunikation/Marketing". Ein aktueller Blick in die Entwicklung der Lebensmittelmärkte rundet das Angebot ab. Damit werfen wir einen ganzheitlichen Blick auf die „Welt der Lebensmittel“ – von der Entwicklung, über die Produktion bis zur Vermarktung.

Im Mittelpunkt des Heftes stehen Fachartikel und Praxisbeiträge zu den Themen "Lebensmittelqualität", "Sensorik", "Lebensmitteltechnologie", "Ingredienzien" sowie "Kommunikation/Marketing". Ein aktueller Blick in die Entwicklung der Lebensmittelmärkte rundet das Angebot ab. Damit werfen wir einen ganzheitlichen Blick auf die „Welt der Lebensmittel“ – von der Entwicklung, über die Produktion bis zur Vermarktung.

Schwerpunkt dieser Ausgabe: "Politische Repräsentation ländlicher Bevölkerungen in der Vormoderne", erscheint 2x jährlich (April und Oktober)

Focus 3/2023: Joining forces for agri-food systems transformation

Our current agricultural and food systems are not capable of providing the global population with sufficient and healthy food within the planetary boundaries. Worse still, with their high freshwater consumption, their greenhouse gas emissions and their representing a threat to biodiversity, they destroy their very own ecological basis. The multiple crises of the last few years have added to all this, with the consequence that Sustainable Development Goal 2 – ending hunger by 2030 – will definitely not be reached.

It is generally agreed that our agricultural and food systems need fundamental changes – towards sustainability, resilience, health, equity and inclusiveness. But how can this best be achieved? Based on the global discourses of the past years and the initiatives emerging from them, our authors have identified key levers and cornerstones for successful agri-food systems transformation.

As can be expected, these vary depending on whether they reflect the view of politics, science or civil society. Nevertheless, consensus has been reached on many issues. The transformation pathways have to be systemic and cross-sectoral, and must break down complexity. They have to be locally owned, context-specific and include all stakeholder groups. They must regard trade-offs as inherent and create an acceptable compensation for the losers. And they have to contain short-, medium- and long-term activities. Based on experience gained in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania, in Chile and Brazil, and in Bangladesh and Vietnam, our authors show what this can look like in practice.

Im Mittelpunkt des Heftes stehen Fachartikel und Praxisbeiträge zu den Themen "Lebensmittelqualität", "Sensorik", "Lebensmitteltechnologie", "Ingredienzien" sowie "Kommunikation/Marketing". Ein aktueller Blick in die Entwicklung der Lebensmittelmärkte rundet das Angebot ab. Damit werfen wir einen ganzheitlichen Blick auf die „Welt der Lebensmittel“ – von der Entwicklung, über die Produktion bis zur Vermarktung.

Im Mittelpunkt des Heftes stehen Fachartikel und Praxisbeiträge zu den Themen "Lebensmittelqualität", "Sensorik", "Lebensmitteltechnologie", "Ingredienzien" sowie "Kommunikation/Marketing". Ein aktueller Blick in die Entwicklung der Lebensmittelmärkte rundet das Angebot ab. Damit werfen wir einen ganzheitlichen Blick auf die „Welt der Lebensmittel“ – von der Entwicklung, über die Produktion bis zur Vermarktung.